Got Junior? We’ve had our fill

By Ken Willisken.willis@news-jrnl.com

Friday

Feb 28, 2014 at 7:36 PMFeb 28, 2014 at 7:38 PM

Dale Earnhardt Jr. never goes stale and rarely appears to mail it in.

Had enough Junior?The popular assumption had Junior Earnhardt’s Daytona 500 victory becoming a marketing boost to NASCAR and the Daytona “brand.” Not sure what the effect will be in the weeks and months to come, but if it’s minimal, it sure won’t be for a lack of effort.Junior’s post-500 promotional tour was so thorough, I expected to see him spinning “The Price is Right” wheel by Friday morning. But, bless his heart, Junior never goes stale and rarely appears to mail it in — his honesty and sincerity carried him fairly well through the thin years, and serves him well now.It’s reminiscent of a president delivering a State of the Union and then hitting the hustings to sell it. You don’t have to sell Junior, just make him available.

CHASE CHANGESYou might want to whip out the scissors, cut this out and save it for a later chuckle: “I do think this will be a format we’ll be using 20 years from now because I think it is going to excite our fans.”Yep, that came from NASCAR chairman Brian France. And yes, he was talking about the new Chase format, which replaced the old Chase format, which replaced the older Chase format, which replaced the original Chase format, which replaced the way they did things for about 30 years.Frankly, he might be right. No, really. Once you’ve designed a system that makes it winner-take-all at the final race, what’s left? Where do you go from there? Well, they could increase the final Chase hopefuls from four to six. Or eight. Ten? Or, as suggested here before: Wait until after the final race to get your “final four,” then send everyone else to the garage and let them go at it for 10 laps.

SAFER, YES, BUT STILL ...Here’s an obvious question: Why on Earth don’t they pad every inch of exposed concrete with SAFER Barrier? You can put the onus on “the experts” and suggest, in so many words, that the most essential parts of the wall are padded. But how many races must you watch before realizing potential catastrophes are like termites: To eliminate, you must cover every square inch of exposure.Back in the first half-hour of the Rolex 24 last month, Charlie Putman found an uncovered concrete wall near the entrance to the road course. Very hard hit. Sunday night, Danica Patrick was on the frontstretch when she was turned into the outside wall, which, even at that part of the track, remains uncovered.Kevin Harvick hit an unprotected inside wall on the last lap and, thankfully, lived to complain about it. He’s right, by the way.The HANS Device and safety advances with the car saved all from injuries, or worse. You could cover all but 3 feet of concrete wall at a 2.5-mile track, and if you’ve paid any attention to auto racing, you know it’s only a matter of time before someone hits that 3-foot area. Biggest Daytona hit seen in a long time was Mason Mingus’ Friday night truck wreck. If that had been an unexposed section of wall, not sure Mr. HANS would’ve helped.

LOWER THAN EXPECTEDGotta admit, I thought the 500’s delay into Sunday night would be a big boost to the TV ratings, but it wasn’t. And that’s probably good news for the long run: We don’t want any temptation for Fox/NASCAR (or is it NASCAR/Fox?) to consider a permanent nighttime move.

Reach Ken Willis at ken.willis@news-jrnl.com. Twitter: @HeyWillieNJ.

You might want to whip out the scissors, cut this out and save it for a later chuckle: “I do think this will be a format we’ll be using 20 years from now because I think it is going to excite our fans.”Yep, that came from NASCAR chairman Brian France. And yes, he was talking about the new Chase format, which replaced the old Chase format, which replaced the older Chase format, which replaced the original Chase format, which replaced the way they did things for about 30 years.Frankly, he might be right. No, really. Once you’ve designed a system that makes it winner-take-all at the final race, what’s left? Where do you go from there? Well, they could increase the final Chase hopefuls from four to six. Or eight. Ten? Or, as suggested here before: Wait until after the final race to get your “final four,” then send everyone else to the garage and let them go at it for 10 laps.

Here’s an obvious question: Why on Earth don’t they pad every inch of exposed concrete with SAFER Barrier? You can put the onus on “the experts” and suggest, in so many words, that the most essential parts of the wall are padded. But how many races must you watch before realizing potential catastrophes are like termites: To eliminate, you must cover every square inch of exposure.Back in the first half-hour of the Rolex 24 last month, Charlie Putman found an uncovered concrete wall near the entrance to the road course. Very hard hit. Sunday night, Danica Patrick was on the frontstretch when she was turned into the outside wall, which, even at that part of the track, remains uncovered.Kevin Harvick hit an unprotected inside wall on the last lap and, thankfully, lived to complain about it. He’s right, by the way.The HANS Device and safety advances with the car saved all from injuries, or worse. You could cover all but 3 feet of concrete wall at a 2.5-mile track, and if you’ve paid any attention to auto racing, you know it’s only a matter of time before someone hits that 3-foot area. Biggest Daytona hit seen in a long time was Mason Mingus’ Friday night truck wreck. If that had been an unexposed section of wall, not sure Mr. HANS would’ve helped.

Gotta admit, I thought the 500’s delay into Sunday night would be a big boost to the TV ratings, but it wasn’t. And that’s probably good news for the long run: We don’t want any temptation for Fox/NASCAR (or is it NASCAR/Fox?) to consider a permanent nighttime move.Reach Ken Willis at ken.willis@news-jrnl.com. Twitter: @HeyWillieNJ.

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